Maps in Tableau

Tableau Maps are very useful to visualize the geographical data. In this article, we will show you, How to Create regular Maps in Tableau with an example. For this, we are going to use World Indicators data sources that come with the tableau.

Creating Maps in Tableau

There are multiple ways in Tableau to create Maps. And in this article, we will explain all of them

Creating Maps in Tableau – First Approach

Drag and drop any Geographic field to Row or Column shelf, and selecting the Map in Show Me window will automatically create a Map in Tableau. In this example, we will drag the Country dimension to Columns Shelf

Next, Drag and Drop Total Population from Measures Region to Rows Shelf. Since it is a Measure value, Total Population is aggregated to default Sum.

Let me change that Bar Chart into a World Map. To do so, Please expand the Show Me window and select the Maps from it

Once you select the maps from Show Me window, Map will be displayed. From the below-shown screenshot, you can see Row and column Shelf’s are filled with generated Latitude and Longitudes. And, Country is added to Detail Card, and Total Population is added to Columns Card.

You can highlight any country to see that Country population

Creating Maps in Tableau – Second Approach

Double-click on any Geographic filed such as Postcode, City, State, or Country will automatically create a Tableau Map. In this example, we will double-click on the Country dimension

From the below screenshot you can see, Tableau has created a Symbol Map for you. Here, it added the Latitude to Row shelf, Longitude to Column shelf, and Country Name to Details Card present in Marks Shelf.

In order to convert the Symbol Map to Maps, either you can click Maps from Show Me window or you can change the Marks type from Automatic to Map

Either way, it will generate a Map for you

Let us add Population Total to Colors card present in Marks Shelf. This will add colour to each and every country based on their Population.

Creating Maps in Tableau – Third Approach

Drag and drop any Geographic filed on the Details card will automatically create a Tableau Map. In this example, we will drag the Country Name dimension to Details card present in Marks Shelf

Now you can see the auto-generated symbol map. Use either of the above-mentioned approaches to convert the Symbol map to Map

Add Data labels to Maps in Tableau

To add data labels to Tableau Maps, Please click on the Show Mark Labels button in the Toolbar. Though it looks odd you get the idea of adding data labels.

Change Colors of Maps in Tableau

Until now you saw the Maps with default colours but, you have an option to change the default colours. To do so, click the drop-down menu beside the SUM(Population Total) colour legend or right-click on the Color bar.

Both of them will open the below-shown context menu. From that, please select the Edit Colors… option

Selecting the Edit Colors… option will open the following window. Click the drop-down arrow under the Palette and select the colour as per your requirement. For now, we are selecting Gold-Purple Diverging. Remember, by clicking the Advanced button you can specify the Start Point, End Point, and Center as well.